Id, Ego And Superego In King Henry's I Know You All

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Recommended: Freud psychoanalytical theory

The Freudian model of id, ego and superego can be mapped onto characters in the play. The id is represented by Falstaff and Hotspur, figures of unrestrained appetite and uninhibited reaction. The superego is symbolized by King Henry as a judgmental, restrictive father, the basis for an ego-ideal based on an interjected paternal image. The King's rebukes sound early in the play and are echoed in Prince Hal's famous soliloquy, "I know you all . . . ," in Act One (1.2.195-217), a soliloquy that presents self-rebuke as self-justification, promising future reformation and reconciliation with the father. The ego is embodied by Prince Hal, the gradually heroic son who learns to mediate among the demands of impulse, restraint, and his various social

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